WHICH COMMANDMENT IS THE GREATEST?
Mark 12:28-34 - October 23, 2005 - Pentecost 23
Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Inquiring minds want to know. Our minds and the minds of the rest of mankind are very inquisi-tive. We spend a lot of our life learning. The things that we don’t know about we research to learn even more as we find answers. It starts out at an early age, doesn’t it? We go to school very early and learn the letters of the alphabet. Then we continue and learn that all those 26 letters can be arranged to make words. Then the words can be arranged to make sentences and paragraphs and stories. From there we learn that this world is full of knowledge. We ask lots of questions that we might discover the answers for our inquiring minds. All of this knowledge searching takes place in our day-to-day living, our earthly life. As believers we also want to learn more in connection with our spiritual life. We start out with the very basics. We go to Sunday school and learn about creation and sin. In confirmation we begin to memorize the Ten Commandments and the Apostles’ Creed. When we go to Bible study and we find out there still is always something more to discover in the word of God. There is something more the Holy Spirit wishes to reveal to us.
So it is today we gather that God would speak to us through His Word. It all begins with the ba-sics. Peter wrote in his letter: "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:2,3). We praise God today that each one of has tasted that the Lord is good! We are going to come before the Lord like this teacher in the law and ask him: Which is the greatest commandment? If we didn’t want to learn about the greatest commandment or we didn’t know anything about the Lord, we wouldn’t even come and ask him about which is the greatest commandment. But we do approach God realizing when we ask:
WHICH IS THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT?
I. We listen first to the Lord our God
II. We learn that love fulfills God’s laws
I. WE LISTEN FIRST TO THE LORD OUR GOD
Verse 28 at the very beginning of our text says: "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating." Jesus was debating (as we heard in our Gospel Lesson) with the Sadducees. We may have to remind ourselves of the leaders in the church. There were the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the scribes (writers). They are called a teacher or scribe in the original text, a writer. They had heard Jesus debating with the Sadducees, one of the leading groups. What did this scribe notice? "Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’"
But what was the answer that Jesus had given the Sadducees? The Sadducees came to Jesus with a hypothetical question. They said, "A woman was married and her husband died." The Levitical law stated that the husband’s brother should marry her and carry on the family name and provide for her. The Sadducees said there were seven brothers and she married them all. "Now in the resurrection who is her husband?" Jesus answered, "In the resurrection in heaven there is no marring and giving in marriage." The Sadducees were not really concerned about that, were they, because they did not believe in a resur-rection. Imagine that! As leaders in the church, they did not believe in heaven, the resurrection.
It was this scribe who noticed that Jesus had given the good answer. Jesus was not trapped with misleading question about marriage in the resurrection. Jesus’ answer was about the fact that God was the Lord of the living, not of the dead. This scribe wants to listen to the Lord. He asked, "Which is the great-est commandment?" Jesus responded, "’The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ’is this: Hear, O Is-rael, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’" Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament. This quote is one of the first sayings that the children of Israel learned from little on: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Jesus reminded him there was no other God. It was the Lord God Almighty who had created the heavens and the earth. It was the Lord God Almighty that sent his Son to redeem mankind.
This scribe agrees. He is listening first to what the Lord has to say. Verse 32: "’Well said, teacher,’ the man replied. ’You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.’" How amazing that this scribe, this teacher of the law, who was so involved with the law was able to see and understand the Gospel.
It is just as amazing with us today. By grace we know God’s Law. By grace we rejoice in God’s Gospel. God’s message has not changed over time. His message is just the same. He is still the Lord God and there is no one else but him to be worshipped. In our day and age that would seem like a very hard statement. This truth is a powerful message to us, but to the world around us it seems uncompromis-ing. And it is! The Lord tells us that there is no other way to salvation except through Christ. It is not through Allah or through Buddha or any false god. In our nation where we are to tolerate all religions, it seems like that very basic building block that the only way to heaven through Christ is sometimes forgot-ten or ignored. The Lord says in Isaiah: "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isaiah 42:8). "I am the Lord. There is no God but one."
We celebrate that saving fact; because, miracle of miracles the Lord has opened our ears to hear and our eyes to see the message of salvation. We don’t deserve to be saved. We can’t buy our way into heaven. We can’t pray or work our way into heaven, but God saves us. He saves us in spite of all of our sin and the wickedness in our heart. He saves us even though we deserve eternal punishment. That is the most amazing miracle. We can come like this teacher in the law and say, "Which is the greatest com-mandment?" Again, in order to ask that question, we have to listen first to the Lord our God, to the Lord who tells us the commandments condemn us. But we also listen to the Lord who tells us it is his life, death and resurrection that saves us. Paul writes in Romans: "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ’The righteous will live by faith’" (Romans 1:17). Thank God that God has worked faith in our hearts. Praise God that we are anxious to listen to what the Lord has to say to us. That is a miracle in itself.
When we look back at the very beginning of our life, when we are born here, we start out as ene-mies of God. We start out really in the grasp of Satan. But through the washing of water in baptism and the power of God’s Word, the Lord God graciously makes us his very own children. From that time on our lives are changed. No longer are we to be so anxious to follow down the blind path of destruction and follow Satan. Our lives are changed that the new man in us created by the grace of God wants to hear what God has to say and listens. It takes effort, because our sinful nature is always with us. As long as we are alive on this earth, we have our sinful nature in us, our Old Adam as Scripture describes it. With our new man we have to fight to put down our Old Adam so that our new man might come forth. So we are anxious to ask, "Which is the greatest commandment?" We are anxious to come before God and say, "Lord, speak to me. I want to listen." It is a battle. The Lord tells us in these last days which we are in, men give up the battle. Listen to this, these dire words from the Prophet Amos, an Old Testament Prophet of thousands of years ago: "’The days are coming’" declares the Sovereign LORD, ’"when I will send a famine through the land--not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD’" (Amos 8:11).
No wonder then when the scribe comes and says, "Which is the greatest commandment," the Lord says, "The first one is to listen, listen that the Lord our God, the Lord is one." As you and I as this teacher of the law listen that the Lord God was one, what happens? We also learn that the greatest commandment is that it is love, love that fulfills God’s laws.
II. WE LEARN THAT LOVE FULFILL GOD’S LAWS
The scribe had to agree. He had to agree when the Lord God said, "Hear, the Lord your God is one." But there was more. The Lord didn’t just stop there. He had this scribe’s attention and he was lis-tening. So Jesus goes on: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Jesus reminded this teacher that to love God above all things was the first and greatest command. This was the summary of the first three commandments of the Table of the Law. The first three commandments teach believers about loving God above all things.
Of course, Jesus continues: "The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these." First, believers are to love God above all things and then love your neighbor as yourself. This is known as the second Table of the Law, the fourth through the tenth com-mandments.
Did you notice the irony of Jesus’ answer when the teacher came and asked which was the greatest commandment? Jesus gives him three: First of all listen, then love God above all things, and finally also love your neighbor as yourself. But Jesus was right. Jesus answered with the word of the Lord and si-lenced all his critics.
In the verses before our text, remember the Sadducees’ only reason to ask about the resurrection was to try to trap Jesus. In the verses before that they asked about paying taxes to Caesar, again trying to trick Jesus. But even this teacher of the law, who first of all listened, knew God’s answer. He says: "To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices." This was a great reve-lation for this teacher of the law and for those who were gathered around. We note that the rest were lis-tening. At the time of Jesus the people had been offering sacrifices for thousands of years, generation after generation. They thought to come to the temple to offer their sacrifice was a duty. They came to the tem-ple, did their duty and were done with their obligations. They forgot that God was looking at their hearts. They forgot the very most important commandment of love. The teacher realized as a leader in the church that all the sacrifices and offerings made no difference if one did not love God or love their neighbor. This was God’s grace at work to reveal such a truth to this scribe.
"When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, ’You are not far from the kingdom of God.’" The scribe was closer to God than what he realized. This scribe was asking what he could do to keep the law. The Lord said, "I have given you grace." And the scribe understood it. Jesus told him that he had given him the gospel and this scribe believed – all by grace!
At the end of our text it says the same thing that was in our Gospel from Matthew (22:34-46): "And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions." Jesus answered from the word of God and the word of God silenced all the critics. This word silenced those who wondered about taxes, marriage in heaven. All those things we might say were foolish questions. It was purely and simply the truth and the power of God’s word that corrected them. Jesus simply states, "Love fulfills the law of God."
Once again, from this time and the time of the Old Testament, not much has changed concerning the commandments. Love fulfills the law. Sometimes we learn the Ten Commandments and get to know them very well. We know each one by number and know the meaning as Luther described it for us. We might forget that love is that fulfillment. The Lord says we are to love him above all things, with all your heart, with all your soul, with your entire mind and with all your strength. That is a daunting task for you and I as believers. For it does not take much for us to think back in our lives and see the many things that stand between us and our love for God. There are many things. And the Lord reminds us the greatest commandment is to love Him above all things. Why is this so important? We are told in Luke: "No ser-vant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money" (Luke 16:13). We know how it is. We cannot do two things at once. We cannot be two in places at once. The Lord says we cannot love him and something else at the same time. When we love God above all things that fulfills the law of God’s love.
Again, we would want to be like this teacher of the law and ask, "Which commandment is the greatest?" We would be like the teacher of the law and say, "Lord, how can I follow in your footsteps? How can I obey your teachings?" It is not just out of obligation. It is not just out of a sense of duty as these people were used to. Or maybe we are used to coming to church on Sunday and saying, "There, I have put in my time. Now I am good for the rest of the week." The Lord would say, "Look people, there is more." There is more than just our offerings, sacrifices and a sense of duty. Jesus, when he was speak-ing to the scribes and Pharisees, said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matthew 9:12,13). We are the sinners and the Lord has called us so that no longer do we sit in darkness. No longer are we going to be destroyed by sin, but instead Jesus has paid the price.
Because of what Jesus has done for us we learn what mercy is. By nature we do not know what love is. By our sinful nature we do not know what mercy is. Today the Lord has shown us what mercy is through his free forgiveness. The Lord has shown us what love is through his love. Listen to this from 1 John: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:10,11). These are the greatest commandments as the Lord declares: Love God and love your fellowman. We learn what love is from God. The Lord God reveals divine love through his Son, Jesus, our Savior who was willing to die on the cross for our sins and the sins of the whole world, even the sins of his enemies.
Which is the greatest commandment? The Lord says, "Love God above all things, and to love your neighbor." The greatest commandment also includes that we have to start at the very beginning. We have to learn to listen to what the Lord says. It is by grace that we can listen and do listen or even want to listen. It is by God’s grace that any of us have started out with the very basic building blocks of salvation. Like Peter says, "We have gone from pure spiritual milk to grow up in the truths and teachings found in God’s Holy word."
When Paul wrote to the church, to the believers at Colosse, he begins with praise and thanksgiving as he does in his letters. Then Paul writes this as he comes to the end of the beginning greeting of his let-ter. These words of Paul, actually God’s inspired words, are still very fitting for us today. He says: "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bear-ing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10). Which commandment is the greatest? First of all, it all starts with hearing what the Lord has to say. The Lord our God says, "Love fulfills the law." Which commandment is the greatest? It is that we continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord: The knowledge of the Lord which loves God above all things and loves our neighbors as ourselves. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
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Pentecost 23(ILCW-A):LEVITICUS 19:1,7,15-18; 1 THESSALONANS 1:5b-10; MATTHEW 22:34-46
